I cracked my mash tun any advice?

[ddrayne10]

I have a problem cause by me not paying attention but i cracked the side of my mash tun.

I tried to do a quick fix and melt the plastic but that did not seem to work so i stopped. I hope i did not mess it up too much. Some one else had an idea to drill out a hole and fit a rubber stopper in it. Any other ideas?

 

[JesseRC]

do you have a larger picture and what kind of cooler is this.

 

[Azrack]

Short answer. Get another cooler if it cracked then the plastic has probably gone brittle and now that you melted it you changed it. Save the heart-arche imo buy a new one.

 

[Revvy]

Yeah, if it's a cooler, get a new one...You really don't want to try some patch and then have it fail during a brew. I once had my braid come off during a mash and stuck my hand in to re-attach it, it was painful as all get out, and very frustrating, but at least I could save the beer. Your situation is different.

We don't really want to see you post a thread where you describe your mash draining out of the side of your tun, while you stand there.

It's so not worth it. Just get another one.

 

[ramthebuffs]

I remember a thread from a while back where somebody was getting really nasty results. After cleaning and double checking everything for quite a few brews it ended up being a cracked cooler that they tried to fix and was adding off flavors. Theres a post on this forum, I cba to look for it tho.

Next time add warming liquid to a cooler in stages this time of year, that or toss in below boiling water to warm it. I'm guessing it cracked by a sudden temp change.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Best bet is to get a new one. If you want to save it temporarily, you could try and scuff the area w/ coarse sandpaper and apply some silicone sealant. Not a permanent fix, but will last a while.

 

[rico567]

Yeah, if it's a cooler, get a new one...You really don't want to try some patch and then have it fail during a brew. I once had my braid come off during a mash and stuck my hand in to re-attach it, it was painful as all get out, and very frustrating, but at least I could save the beer. Your situation is different.

We don't really want to see you post a thread where you describe your mash draining out of the side of your tun, while you stand there.

It's so not worth it. Just get another one.

I once forgot to put the braid on. I have the kit from Bargain fittings, which has the braid on a screw-on fitting, which makes it easy to remove and clean. Well, I broke my usual drill at some point and forgot to screw the braid in, and only realized after I had mashed in. Well, I didn't give it a lot of deep thought. I dumped the mash into plastic buckets, installed the braid, and dumped the mash back in. Lost surprisingly little temperature, and I only had to fish around a bit with a wire in the spigot when it was time to vorlauf. Not too bad, but I certainly hope I don't pull that again.......

 

[leboeuf]

You could drill it out with a hole saw and install a stopper. I think "The Pol" has a thread about installing thermometers into his mlt by using this method.

 

[winstonofbeer]

Coolers arnt that exspencive.
Plus this gives you a good excuse to get a bigger cooler if you are doing 10 gal batch's.

 

[ddrayne10]

the cooler is a 54 quart cooler and the crack was from me slipping with a wrench and putting a hole in the side. I am going to try the stopper idea. the crack about an inch but the whole thing including the warped side from where i tried to melt it is 1 1/4 inches. So i am going to the brew store in an attempt to get a rubber stopper then to home depot to get a drill piece. If i do it this way i think that i will seal well and also i think later i could put a hole in the rubber stopper for a thermometer. wish me luck and thanks for the ideas guys. i will post a picture and let you know how it goes.